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RINGTOWN — The borough council Tuesday filled a vacancy on the board with a former mayor.

The council accepted the resignation of Peg Forgotch Thompson in July.

With a unanimous vote, the board appointed Leonard Kamarousky to her seat.

“We can only appoint him until the end of the year for municipal election,” council President Julian Milewski said at the council’s August meeting at the Ringtown Senior Citizens Building.

Councilman David Seresky made the motion to appoint Kamarousky. It was seconded by Councilman James Compton Sr. and carried unanimously with votes by Councilman Thomas Murray and Milewski.

Kamarousky was not present at Tuesday’s meeting.

In other matters, the council revised its contract for a paving project that will include drainage improvements on East Main Street.

In July, the council hired Blue Ridge Excavating-N-Hauling LLC, Shamokin, the low bidder, choosing three options that cost a total of $101,672.50. On Tuesday, project manager Jacqueline A. Peleschak of Alfred Benesch & Co., Pottsville, recommended a change.

“At the last meeting, you made a motion to award the contract for the base bid and the two bid additions. You’re using liquid fuels as your funding source and anything above $100,000 will need to be prevailing wage,” Peleschak said.

She admitted she’d made a mistake while communicating the information to the council: “When I said at the last meeting that you should award for all three, the base bid and the two additions, that was my goof. I should have only recommended the base bid and the paving.”

The council Tuesday voted to keep Blue Ridge’s base bid of $60,842.50, which includes the stormwater work, the additional job of repaving of the wearing course at a cost of $30,150, and 1 1/2 milling, 21-feet wide, at a cost of $5,025.

“So I need a motion to just award the contract based on the base bid and those bid additions in the amount of $96,017.50,” Peleschak said.

Dropped was the base repair, which cost $5,655.

“It may not be a biggie but to not have that up front makes me feel a little goofy. I got to tell you, I’m a little disappointed at that,” Milewski said.

Compton, Milewski and Murray approved the change. Seresky voted no, since he disagreed with the project’s initial concept.

In other matters, the council is still looking for an emergency management coordinator. In February, Thompson announced her resignation as emergency management director for personal reasons.

“We still don’t have a person. We talked about sharing services, and I have not heard anything. Do we want to send a letter to Union Township? They supposedly have an active person there. Do you want to see if we can share their person?” Milewski asked the board.

“He gets paid by the township. I think he would do it if he got paid here,” Mayor Albert Breznik Jr. said.

The council decided to send a letter to Union Township to inquire about the possibility.

In June, the council decided to allow its police force to work with the Schuylkill County Drug Task Force once insurance information was verified.

In July, S. John Price, borough solicitor, said he still had questions regarding insurance. Price said Tuesday he’s working to find answers.

“I’ve been in touch with Pat Leonard, who’s the first deputy attorney general for the commonwealth, which is the second highest law enforcement office in the commonwealth next to the attorney general. He did not have an immediate answer. He’s researching it, and he’ll be back in touch with me,” Price said.

Breznik said since last month’s meeting, he spoke with a representative of the borough’s insurance carrier.

“He did say we are covered as long as we are paying our police officer to do the work,” Breznik said.

The council took no action on the matter Tuesday, allowing Price more time for research.

Contact the writer: spytak@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6011

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